Parents ready for talks over SAITM admission halt

Private Medical College Parents’ Society today said that they are ready to discuss with the relevant parties and authorities over recent proposals put forward by the deans of eight state medical faculties and the Higher Education Ministry yesterday.

The Parent’s Society in a press briefing held in Colombo this evening said that most of those proposals contained no new recommendations and were the same as those presented by a previous committee.

Prof. Neville Perera, visiting professor of Surgery at South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) said that the institution and the committee members of the Parents Society were ready for discussion over the issue. However, he said that they had no confidence on the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC).

“The structure for the discussions should be prepared by all the parties together. If it was entrusted only with the SLMC, it won’t work,” he told the media personnel.

Responding to the question of suspension of registering students for SAITM for a period of six months, he said that it should be decided by SAITM.

He also said that the SAITM is on par with any other university in the country. “Having taught government medical students for over a decade, I can confidently say that SAITM students will be a clinically sound batch of medical graduates, he added.

President of the society, PMBK Thennakoon said that they have requested for meetings with President Maithripala Sirisena as well as Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa. He also said that they are fully confident that the both will react to them positively.

Meanwhile, the Society’s Secretary Anura Dhanaratne said that the Court of Appeal had already given its verdict and if the SLMC was not willing to respect it, it meant they are to face the charges of contempt of court.

He requested for an unbiased authority to regulate these private medical colleges to ensure high standards of medical education in the country.